"Everything" Else: British K.O. Championship, Russian Championship, TCEC
The finals of the British Knockout Championship are a hybrid: four standard (a.k.a. Classical) games followed by four rapids on the last day, with the standard games counting twice relative to the rapids. Game 1 was a draw, and David Howell beat Luke McShane in the second game of their match. The event runs concurrently with the London Chess Classic.
Like the LCC, the Russian Championship has had its share of draws as well, but two players have been immune to the bug. Eight of 18 games have been drawn so far, with six of the wins coming from co-leaders Vladimir Fedoseev and Daniil Dubov, both of whom are 3-0. Their ratings have benefited mightily: The 22-year-old Fedoseev has gained 13.1 points and is up to #26 in the world at 2731.1; his slightly younger counterpart (21-years-old) has shot up 14.8 points and is a win away from joining the 2700 club; he's currently 2697.8.
Finally, TCEC is in the home stretch. Komodo came back from 13-6 to 13-9 in decisive games, but a loss in game 88 put paid to any real chances of a comeback. Game 89 is clearly going to finish in a draw, which will leave Houdini ahead 47-42 with 11 games left.
Reader Comments (1)
"Russian championship ... two players have been immune to the bug" - I would say at least four: tailenders (also by Elo) Volkov and Romanov also contributed - with losses not just against Dubov, but also against Svidler and Vitiugov, respectively.
Sure it helps (to reduce the number of draws) if some players are "on fire", a more diverse field also helps - Volkov and Romanov (and others) qualified fair and square via a Swiss semifinal.
The Russian women championship has the same number of decisive games (10/18), with a larger number of decisive games between players roughly Elo-equal. I attribute it to Elo level rather than sex - a male event with players rated about 2350-2500 may have a similar number of decisive games but won't get as much attention.
Eight draws out of eighteen games in either event doesn't seem excessive (far less than 19/20 in London), so Dennis maybe wouldn't mention/quantify it if the two events weren't parallel. I don't think he is a draw hater who would prefer every game to be decisive - no such track record.
[DM: It should be clear that I'm not, though obviously not all draws are created equal.]
Some other people on chess forums are, going as far as wanting to abandon classical chess altogether or insisting on rapid/blitz playoffs after every drawn classical game - in some cases maybe because faster time controls would favor their favorite player(s)?
Personally I don't mind draws (also not when playing chess myself). My main conclusion from London so far would be that elite-only events aren't necessarily the most attractive ones.
[DM: There might be a little ambiguity in the "necessarily". It's not the case that for any two tournaments A and B, where A is an elite-only event and B isn't, that A will have been the most attractive one. But it might be a matter of necessity that a hard-fought, well-played elite-only event will be more attractive than a non-elite one. Of course, you almost certainly meant it in the first sense, and I agree.]